Foz do Iguaçu — 3 Countries in 2 Days
One of the biggest waterfalls in the world bordering Brazil and Argentina
2024/03/23–03/26
Visiting one of the biggest waterfalls in the world was an exciting journey. I met my American friend Jason at the airport in Sao Paulo. Thanks to him, I entered the airport lounge for the first time. It was not as luxurious as I had imagined, but there was free food and free snacks, and I could leave my bags unattended without worries. There we began our journey.
The three cities and the border crossings
The famous Iguazu Falls are located across the border of Brazil and Argentina. The city in Brazil is called Foz do Iguaçu, written in Portuguese, while the Argentinian side of the falls is called Puerto Iguazú. Connecting them is a car-only freeway, on the one end is the Aduana (customs) of Brazil, where you must leave the car with your documents, and go into the building to stamp in or out of the country. The Argentinian Aduana is similar but I recalled that I didn’t have to step outside the car. The procedure felt like a highway toll. The connecting road between the two customs is around 3 kilometers long. This journey can be done by bus or by renting a taxi for a day (around 80 USD).
Between Brazil (Foz) and the Paraguayan city of Ciudad del Este connects a bridge called Puente Internacional de la Amistad. It’s about 1km long from border to border. I found it amusing how little they care — apparently one doesn’t need to have their passport stamped if they claim at the border that they were staying for less than 24 hours because of some trade agreements. And how do they know who’s passing or smuggling drugs? The answer is that they probably have zero clue, nor do they care.
I think all the officials in both borders were just working inside the building while leaving the entire 4 lane + sidewalks unattended. It blew my mind. I went in trying to make sure proper recording had been done on my documents, and the officer just told me it was not needed and sent me on the way. So Jason and I walked across the country and back within an afternoon.
Soon we arrived in Paraguay. I was so happy to be able to speak Spanish again, even just for a few hours, I didn’t have to feel mute.
Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
Jason and I spent an afternoon exploring this South American inland country. The streets are chaotic and full of street vendors, shops, and malls, but exactly because everyone was selling something (and not wandering around aimlessly or looking suspicious), I felt quite safe there.
One thing that surprised me was how many Taiwanese people there were in Ciudad del Este. I began noticing some bubble tea shops. As we walked around, I saw a bakery with a layout that was all too familiar — the way the tongs were placed, how individual breads were wrapped into individual plastic packaging, and finally a fridge full of cold, packaged drinks. Upon seeing one of the breads had taro filling inside, I turned around and asked the auntie with Chinese features if she was Taiwanese. She said yes, and we began chatting. Wow, the feeling of home. It’s rare enough to encounter an Asian person who’s not traveling from North America, let alone Taiwanese people. This was the first and only time during my South American trip that I saw Taiwanese people aside from Cusco (and Machu Picchu).
I was told that lots of Taiwanese people emigrated to Paraguay. I’m still not sure why or how one came up with the idea to move to this country among every other option, particularly in this city that feels so far away. But there they were, creating a strong network of businesses by Chinese and Taiwanese descendants, who were raising a new generation of offspring in Paraguay.
Honestly, many parts of Ciudad del Este reminded me of Manila — chaotic, with large spaces and greens while some roads are unpaved, very humid and hot, and most importantly malls situated amid everything. The park reminded me of the long walks I took on the campus of UP Diliman.
One of the first impressions I had of the city was, wow, they had a building that’s half burned into carbon and they aren’t doing anything about it. I looked at the news and the fire apparently only happened only 2 weeks before my visit.
All their malls are named in a very similar logic as Macau: Shopping China, Shopping Paris, Madrid Center, Mona Lisa — essentially random cities and famous items around the world, they found them and slapped them on a mall that looked nothing like what they associate it with. Within 3 hours, we finished our little tour around the very small city and were on our way back to Brazil.
The waterfall — the Brazilian side
The entrance to the Brazilian side of the waterfall is about 30 minutes away from the city center of Foz on an Uber, about 5–10 minutes past the airport. The journey cost around 30 reais (6 USD), so it was an easy journey especially shared between the two of us.
The waterfall is managed by a Brazilian national park (and the other side was the same, but managed by the Argentinian national park). Upon entering, we took a train inside the park where we could easily reach the sight of the waterfall by walking.
The waterfall is ginormous. However, I found it difficult to process the idea of going to a waterfall where I couldn’t swim next to (though rightfully so) and sweating like a dog on the way. We took some nice pictures as we explored the well-designed pathways in the park.
I don’t know how I feel about it. It’s obviously very grand and pretty, but I hated that for the most part, you are so far removed from the waterfall for whatever conservation and tourism considerations, that the experience felt very impersonal to me.
We got as close as we could to the waterfall. I think reasonably we could not be closer to it than this, but a big part of me still preferred going to a waterfall that’s a bit more low-key, more secluded instead of flooded by tourists, and most importantly one where one can swim in.
The waterfall — the Argentinian side
On another day, we rented a private taxi to cross over the border of Argentina to see the other side of the waterfall and a bit of the city, Puerto Iguazu. You cannot take just any taxi from Brazil and ask them to take you to Argentina, as there are specific licenses that allow some cars to cross borders. Hence, we asked around and got the general pricing of around 80 dollars (Meanwhile I’m sure if you are a local you can bargain to cheaper).
As we crossed through the border in Argentina, my Taiwanese passport characteristically took an extra 5 minutes for them to figure out what to do with. We stayed in the car awaiting the young man to go find his manager, to come out with the stamp after a short delay. Soon after passing the border, we got to the Argentinian park within 15 minutes.
The Argentinian park was larger. There were a few pathways that one could take, even though each one of them took less than 30 minutes to complete.
The waterfall had a better view from the Argentinian side, although you cannot get as close to the waterfall itself as the Brazilian side. One can, however, as an addition, pay to get on a boat that goes almost into the waterfall, getting completely and totally soaking wet. I think it would have cost around 50 euros, and neither of us decided that it was worth it.
We went to lunch at a restaurant that’s probably very touristy and overpriced, and we ended up at our final stop in Argentina — the place where the three countries meet. Standing on the bridge in the land of Argentina, one could see Paraguay and Brazil in sight. We took some photos and went on our way back.
After the day trip under the flaming sun, we took a nap before heading out for a simple dinner. We found ourselves at one of the bars with live music, consuming alcohol and fried Brazilian snacks for dinner, wrapping up our journey in Foz do Iguaçu. The fried tapiocas were my absolute favorite and it’s something I still miss from Brazil.
